Could the Rays' Chances of Extending David Price Be Higher Than We Think?

Rays Colored Glasses | Jan 8

Something that has begun to happen over the past few weeks and months is that Rays fans have begun to come to grips with the fact that David Price is unlikely to be in Tampa Bay for much longer. As just a second-time arbitration-eligible player this offseason, Price agreed to a 10.1125 million dollar contract, and his raise of over 5.5 million dollars from his 4.35 million dollar salary in 2012 was the record for a player going through arbitration for the second time. As Price just gets more and more expensive, how could the Rays possibly afford him given their limited budget? Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe opined that it may just be possible.

With another $25 million coming in on a national TV deal next year, it'll be tough for even the Rays not to extend David Price.

The typical way that a team suddenly has more budget under its disposal is that new ownership takes over or the team gets a new stadium built. The triumvirate of Stuart Sternberg, Andrew Friedman, and Matthew Silverman in the front office has completely turned the Rays around so we have to hope that the ownership of the Rays is not about to change, and it seems pretty clear that the Rays are not about to start construction on a new stadium. However, there's a third way that a team can suddenly see a major increase in revenue: TV deals. The deals that Major League Baseball signed with ESPN, Fox, and Turner Sports will give the Rays and every team in baseball a 25 million dollar increase as Cafardo. In addition, the Rays' current TV deal with Sun Sports expires in 2016, and they will be able to negotiate a new contract that will guarantee them plenty more income per year, even 40 million dollars or more a year, which is around 25 million dollars more then they're making now. It would be best if that new deal was negotiated with a plan for a new Rays stadium already in place, but nevertheless, the Rays will be taking in more money and will be able to raise their payroll significantly. Could all this TV money coming in for the short-term and long-term be utilized in part to sign Price to a long-term extension to keep him in Tampa Bay?